In addition to being largely covered by permafrost, there are a few facts that contribute to Russia’s hardened reputation. Before 2020, Russians were allowed to keep bears and other large predatory animals as pets. The nation consumes more vodka than any other country on the planet. And up until July 2011, the Russian government legally categorized any beverage under 10 percent ABV as a “foodstuff” among the likes of eggs, soda, bread, and other standard grocery store goods.
This is not to say that Russians themselves considered beer to be the same thing as soda, but the classification did allow for the sale and consumption of beer to be treated as such. According to the BBC, prior to the law change, beer was sold at unlicensed kiosks, openly enjoyed in public, and available for purchase at all hours of the day.
The publication Russia Beyond claims that beer has been classified as a food product since 1957 when the Soviet Union entered an international trade agreement called the Nice Agreement, which was established to organize goods and services for trademark registration. As per the treaty’s original terms, all alcoholic drinks above 10 percent ABV fell into a separate classification from those below that strength.
The BBC reported that beer sales in Russia rose by over 40 percent between 2001 and 2011, with many breweries marketing their products as healthier alternatives to spirits. Still, in 2011, Russia’s national level of alcohol consumption was twice the critical level proposed by the World Health Organization.
Two years prior, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev started making moves to create new laws to battle the nation’s growing alcohol abuse. The first measure, a 200 percent tax hike on beer, went into effect in 2010. And on July 20, 2011, Medvedev signed a bill that officially lumped beer into the same category as spirits in Russia.
The bill also put a few laws into effect aimed at curbing beer sales and laissez-faire attitudes surrounding its consumption. According to Bloomberg, the bill prohibited the sale of beer at kiosks, banned stores from selling alcohol between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m., and put restrictions on the advertisement of alcoholic beverages. The laws all went into effect at the start of 2013.
“This is a good beginning in efforts to regulate the beer industry, although beer is not the main source of Russia’s problems,” Kirill Danishevsky, a doctor and Russian health care professional, told the Christian Science Monitor at the time of the bill’s signing. “At least they’ve recognized that it’s an alcoholic drink, and that’s a huge step forward,” he said. “At last there will be a complete ban on sales from outdoor kiosks and an end to TV advertising for beer.”
Beer still remains a popular commodity in Russia these days — especially since many wine and spirits categories have been hit with high import duties — but the days of sipping lagers in the streets of Moscow with no legal consequences are a thing of the past.
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